Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are generally used for the treatment of acute pain, inflammatory pain, visceral pain, breakthrough pain, nociceptive pain, neuropathic pain, dysmenorrhea, post-surgical pain, acute postpartum pain, postoperative pain management, chronic pain in osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and pain due to other diseases and causes.
Celecoxib is approved in U.S. under brand name CELEBREX®, as oral capsules, and is used in the treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, acute pain, chronic pain, primary dysmenorrhea and familial adenomatous polyposis. It is available in the strengths of 50 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, and 400 mg.
Celecoxib was described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,823 assigned to Searle, which describes a class of 1, 5-diaryl pyrazoles and their salts together with processes for the preparation of such compounds.
Celecoxib is chemically designated as 4-[5-(4-methylphenyl)—3-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazol-1-yl] benzenesulfonamide and is a diaryl-substituted pyrazole. The empirical formula is C17H14F3N3O2S, and the molecular weight is 381.38; the chemical structure is as follows:

U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,823 contains general references to formulations for the administration of 1,5-diaryl pyrazoles, including orally deliverable dosage forms such as tablets and capsules.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,068 describes a class of 1,5-diaryl pyrazole compounds including celecoxib that are selective inhibitors of cyclooxygenase-2 and can be administered to treat, among other conditions and disorders, pathological conditions associated with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.
Celecoxib is a hydrophobic and highly permeable drug belonging to class II of biopharmaceutics classification system. Celecoxib is a neutral molecule that is essentially insoluble in water, which leads to high variability in absorption and hence has limited bioavailability after oral administration. It also has pre-systemic metabolism.
Celecoxib has an aqueous solubility of about 5 μg/ml at between 5° C. and 40° C., which is pH independent at pH<9. Celecoxib is not readily dissolved and dispersed for rapid absorption in the gastrointestinal tract when administered orally, for example in capsule form. Oral administration is associated with a delayed onset of the desired pharmacological action. It is known that upon oral administration, celecoxib takes approximately 3.0 hours for peak plasma concentrations to be achieved and hence have delayed onset of action after administration. Additionally, the intake of food further influences drug absorption. However, acute pain, as in the case of migraine pain, surgical pain, trauma, pain due to kidney stones, and arthritis, demands immediate or faster pain relief.
Accordingly, there remains an unmet need in the art for compositions of celecoxib or pharmaceutical salts thereof, which provide faster pain relief.